Thursday, April 30, 2009

Learn 2 Skate Day 6: Green Kids

Brian, Danny, Markeitha and Franco all started DinoMights through Learn 2 Skate. Today they came to help teach the first graders

The half-way point of Learn 2 Skate has arrived! Each school has had three skating lessons, and each has three left. There has been a lot of improvement. One girl stands out in my mind. On the first day she was crying from fear. She was pretty worried while holding onto the wall, but with each step away from the wall, she just could not control the emotions. It is not that she couldn't do it, it's just that she was afraid. Today, she had huge smiles on her face. She was the head of the pack the whole time saying, "Look at me!"

Maybe she will become a full year round DinoMight after Learn 2 Skate is over. We have been doing this project with Richard Green Central School for about 10 years. At the current time we have about 25 Green students in our year round program.

Today four students, who all began their DinoMights careers in Greg Carroll Learn 2 Skate, came from Green to volunteer with the first graders.

Brian, Danny, Markeitha and Franco were all first graders at Green School. They rode the bus to the arena just like the first graders did today. They were probably a bit scared and also really excited. After it was all over the DinoMights staff visited their homes to tell their families about the program. They said yes. Then we fitted them with hockey equipment in the front yard!

The remarkable thing about these volunteers is that they all also have siblings who have been or are in Learn 2 Skate too. Brian's sister Charlin was in Learn 2 Skate 2 years ago, and she has also joined DinoMights. This year we have Danny's cousin (they call each other brothers sometimes because they live together), Markeitha's brother Pierre (Pierre is already in DinoMights. He is wowing his classmates having already learned how to skate.), and Franco's sister all in Learn 2 Skate as first graders.

So the cycle will continue. In a few years the cousins, brothers, and sisters will be the ones coming to serve and to bless a new generation of future Dinos!